Sefer Yechezkel, chapter 47. "And he brought me back to the entrance of the House, and behold, water was issuing from beneath the threshold of the House eastward, for the front of the House faced east, and the water was running down from beneath the right side of the House, south of the altar." From there he brings him back to the eastern entrance of the Courtyard of Israel. When we speak of the eastern entrance, this is the entrance opposite which one enters the Temple, it is really the central entrance. And then he sees that from beneath the threshold of the House water is issuing and it is drawn toward the east, as if it goes out from the House to the front of the House. To the front of the House, and the front of the House, as we said, when I enter I enter from the eastern side, that is called the front of the House, so the east is the front. And he sees that the source of the water is drawn from the side of the House, meaning from the right side, from the south of the altar. South of the altar means that if I enter, this is on the left side of the one entering, but it is called the right side because for one who comes from the direction of the Heichal it is on his right. The Radak brings what Chazal say, that this spring begins in the Holy of Holies. Rabbi Pinchas said in the name of Rabbi Huna of Tzippori: the spring that goes out from the Holy of Holies (we are speaking of a future spring that will emerge in the time of the Third Temple), at first it is like the horns of locusts; when it reaches the entrance of the Heichal it becomes like the warp thread, which is already thicker; when it reaches the entrance of the Ulam, which is further out, it becomes like the woof thread, which is thicker still; when it reaches the entrance of the Courtyard it becomes like the mouth of a small flask. And this is what we learned: the Water Gate, and so on, through which they bring in the flask for the water libation on the festival. And Rabbi Eliezer says the water bubbles up and rises like the mouth of a flask and is destined to go out from beneath the threshold of the House. And afterward we will see "and he measured a thousand by the cubit," and so on, as we will see later. And the purpose of this water, and the hint in the inner matters of this water, we will see later.
"And he brought me out by way of the northern gate, and led me around outside to the outer gate, by the way facing east, and behold, water was trickling out from the right side." He brings him out by way of the northern gate, he brings him out of the Courtyard through the northern gate because the eastern gate of the inner court, and also the gate of the outer court, as we have already seen, were closed; the two eastern gates, which are really the central ones, were closed, and they would be opened specially only for the Nasi. And then he arrives outside, and we saw that the outer gate was entirely the place that only Hashem would enter, as we explained above. And so Hashem brings him out from the north, outside, and he goes around by way of the outside until the eastern side. And then he sees that the water is trickling from the court toward the Temple Mount from the right side. From the right side, meaning the southern side. And he sees that the source was open like the mouth of a flask. And the mouth of a flask means a place of scant water, and "pach" means, it is called "pach" because the water was trickling (mefakim). "Mefakim" from the word "pi hapach," the mouth of the flask. The Radak explains, in contrast, that "mefakim" means going out, as Targum Yonatan says, "venafkin." "Mefakim" like "nafki," like "going out."
"When the man went out eastward with a measuring line in his hand, he measured a thousand cubits and led me through the water, water up to the ankles." And then I see the angel who goes out with a line in his hand. "A line in his hand" means a measuring instrument. And then he goes out with me to the eastern side by way of the Temple Mount and he measures a thousand cubits and I still see that the water is scant. Measuring a thousand cubits means a distance, a distance of a thousand cubits, a thousand cubits is roughly a distance of about 500 meters. And then I see that the water is still scant, and it is "mei ofsayim," "ofsayim" meaning like "efes" and eye. Chazal say "mei ofsayim" means a person passes through the water up to the ankles. And why is it called "ofsayim"? Because it is called "pas," like the sole (pas) of his hand or the sole (pas) of his foot in the language of Chazal, and this is the meaning of "mei ofsayim," water that reaches the height of the ofsayim, which means a person's ankles. It is also possible to say that "mei ofsayim" means that "ofsayim" is not only from the word "pas" but also from the word "edge." As I say "afsei aretz." What is "afsei aretz"? The edge of the earth. So the "ofsayim" in a person, what is the edge in a person? It is the ankles, it is the edge of his foot. So "ofsayim" is either in the sense of the sole of the hand, or in the sense of the end, yes, which is the very end of the human body, which is the legs, the soles of the feet.
"And he measured a thousand and led me through the water, water up to the knees; and he measured a thousand and led me through, water up to the loins." And then he measures another additional thousand and the water is already deeper. We continue another thousand cubits, another approximately 500 meters, and then I see that the water already reaches me up to the knees. And I continue further and the water deepens up to the loins. That is to say, we are speaking of an enormous and abundant stream of water that goes out from the Holy of Holies. And by the way, this is a stream that is by way of a miracle, because in the natural way it does not work like this, that the water goes and increases as the spring continues. It goes out like a hair's breadth and after that it grows stronger, from where? So we understand from here that the water is water that came down in a miraculous manner, that water would trickle out from the Holy of Holies and upon its exit be exceedingly scant, and further on there would be abundant and mighty waters. Until "he led me through, water up to the loins." Rashi says that from here on it is already a stream that he cannot pass through, and from here Chazal learn that a person is forbidden to enter water from the loins and upward, so that the water not sweep him away. If a person wants to cross a stream he should not walk in a place where the water already passes the loins, because as long as the water reaches only up to the loins you still have the strength to overcome the water, most of the body is still out. But when the water already passes the loins then it already sweeps away part of the body itself and then you can no longer cross except by swimming, as we will see later. And then he measured another thousand before him, a stream that could not be crossed, and this measurement was when he was already walking on dry land. He was no longer in the water, as it is written "and he brought me back to the bank of the stream," meaning at the bank of the stream on the side and not in the stream itself.
"And he measured a thousand, a stream that I could not pass through, for the water had risen, water to swim in, a stream that could not be crossed." As Rashi explained, he now measures another thousand and it is a stream that cannot be crossed because the water had risen, meaning the water increased and swelled and rose up. "Mei sachu." What is "mei sachu"? It is water already for swimming. One cannot walk in it. One who wants to go must swim. "A stream that could not be crossed," it is a stream that cannot be crossed on foot.
The Malbim says, here the Malbim wants to explain to us the inner meaning of the matters. He explains very wondrous things. What are they really telling us here? The Malbim says that besides the miracle in its plain sense, as we explained that it truly is a miracle, first of all that water goes out from the Holy of Holies, that an open source goes out from the House of Hashem, as it is written in Yoel, "and a spring shall go out from the House of Hashem and water the Valley of Shittim." And as it is written in Zecharyah, "and it shall be on that day that living waters shall go out from Yerushalayim," for in Yerushalayim, says the Malbim, there was never a spring, and here suddenly such a rushing stream of abundant water that he tells you can only be crossed by swimming. There is here a prophecy and there is here a kind of statement that really expresses a miracle of something beyond the bounds of nature. I recall that years ago, perhaps already a decade ago, there were reports that the Waqf was dealing with a flow of water coming out of the ground and they used all sorts of techniques to block the water coming out, and they were very frightened by this because they have a tradition among them that if water begins to come out from the place of the Dome of the Rock there, from the place opposite the Holy of Holies, they begin to fear that this means that soon this place is about to turn over to belong to Am Yisrael. And they tried in every way to close the water. Apparently they have since succeeded, I do not know. How accurate this story is and how correct its details are one to one I do not know, but this is what I know, that at the time it was told and this matter gained momentum at the time. Apparently they managed to deal with it in some way, because since then we have not heard more about this matter. In any case the Malbim says, beyond the simple matter of there being a miracle that water, a source of living water, would come out from the Holy of Holies.
Beyond this matter there is also here a matter that comes to hint at the waters of knowledge, the Torah and the faith that go out from the House of Hashem. For "from Tzion shall Torah go forth," says the Malbim. And these holy waters go out from beneath the right threshold of the House, south of the altar. This means the southern side, not from the northern side. And why? says the Malbim. Because the northern side was the holier place in the Temple, since on the northern side they would slaughter the most holy offerings. And the most holy offerings are the place that comes to atone for transgression and to end sin. For what do you slaughter there? You slaughter there the offerings that are meant to atone for iniquities and sins, such as the burnt offering, such as the guilt offering, sin offerings, all of these come to atone. Even the burnt offering comes to atone for a thought of the heart and for a positive commandment and for a negative commandment that is remedied by a positive one. The Malbim says, and from this side the waters of knowledge shall not flow from their buckets. The water does not pass through the northern side. And why? Because the northern side represents recognizing the Holy One, blessed be He, from the aspect of fear of punishment, from the aspect of "turn away from evil," there are sins, there is corruption, and on the northern side they would slaughter the offerings that come for sin. He says no, the source will open from the right side, which means the southern side. Which is the south of the altar, where they would offer the sacrifices of the south, these were the peace offerings, these were the offerings of goodwill, the thanksgiving offerings, of which there is eating for both the owner and the Kohanim and the altar. This does not come for sin. This indicates recognition, recognition of the goodness and kindness of the Holy One, blessed be He, service of Hashem from the aspect of recognizing the good and the kindness, not from the aspect of sin and rectification and iniquities. But rather, on the contrary, from the aspect of thanksgiving to Hashem, from the southern side, the side of the thanksgiving offerings, of the offerings of goodwill and the peace offerings.
Good, so we have understood why the water goes out from the southern side and not from the northern side. But we still need to understand, says the Malbim, what are those four measurements that he measured, telling you that at first he measured and there was exceedingly scant water, the second time abundant, the third time already more, from the ankles, from the ankles, from the knees. What is the idea behind these measurements? The Malbim brings in the name of the Abarbanel, for he explained, and indeed many of the Malbim's explanations are based on the Abarbanel as we said in the past, that this comes to hint at the four kinds of comprehensions with which they will comprehend the Holy One, blessed be He, by means of the waters of knowledge flowing from the Sanctuary. That is to say, there will be four levels or four kinds of comprehension with which they will comprehend the Divine at that time. "Mei ofsayim" is to comprehend the world of coming into being and passing away, of vanity and nothingness. To comprehend the Holy One, blessed be He, from within this world. This coarse world, what is it? "Ofsayim." Nothingness and chaos. "Mei birkayim," the water up to the knees, says the Rav, this is already to comprehend the Holy One, blessed be He, with a comprehension of the world of the spheres, which are in motion. The world of the spheres, these are the heavenly bodies, the sun, the moon, the stars, this is called the world of the spheres, which are in motion. "Mei motnayim," the water up to the loins, is a comprehension of the world of the angels, this is already higher, as we discussed at length when we explained the matter of the chariot at the beginning of Sefer Yechezkel. This is the world of the angels, for the angels' strength is in their loins, mighty in strength who do His word. "Mei sachu" is comprehensions of the Divine, for the water rose from the depth of what is comprehended. You are no longer walking on the ground. You are already swimming above. In the depth of what is comprehended you cannot understand the matters to their depth, to their fullness, you already only, as it were, recognize the matters only from their upper part. You are swimming in the water above, you no longer reach the inner part below. The Malbim says, and in my opinion this matter also hints that at that time it is written that "the earth shall be filled with knowledge of Hashem as the waters cover the sea." And it will be like water covering the sea. And the water that covers the place of the sea, says the Malbim, we all know does not cover it evenly. There are places in the sea that are several kilometers deep and there are places that are shallow. So this comes to say that although everyone will recognize Hashem, know that with all this there will be a difference of levels in the quantity of comprehension and the quality of comprehension and its depth. All will recognize Hashem but not at the same level, not at the same degree. There will be levels in the comprehension of the Divine. Each one, says the Malbim, will comprehend according to his level. And so he actually divides it and tells him, come see that there will be four levels in the comprehension of the Divine.
There will be nations that will remain, says the Malbim, in the state of the ancient folly of those who served idolatry, stars and constellations. There will be nations that will still cling to the ancient levels of the ancient folly, idol worshipers. Like China, we explained that "Sin" means China, this is China, and Japan and the people of India, for to this day in India there are people who when a cow passes by they come to a standstill, they worship idols in the plain sense. And he says these people, their knowledge in the comprehension of the Divine at that time will be according to their level, so it will be exceedingly faint. "Mei ofsayim." Their comprehension of the waters of knowledge will be of the aspect of "ofsayim," of nothingness, of something exceedingly scant. Those nations who are not idol worshipers and have a religion, says the Malbim, only that they err in the Divine and they worship the true God, worshiping that man, meaning here the Christians, they will already have more comprehension of the waters of knowledge because he already recognizes the Holy One, blessed be He. But the Malbim says that this water even with them reached up to the knees. It will not be a high comprehension but a comprehension of "mei birkayim." The nations that received true beliefs, says the Malbim, in the faith of the Divine and His unity, only that they did not receive the true religion and the commandments of the Divine, here he is speaking of the Muslims, since the Muslims have no problem with the unity of Hashem. They know that Hashem is the God and there is none besides Him. They do not believe like the Christians that there is the impure trinity. They believe that there is only one God. Muhammad, they say, is His prophet. Prophet, indeed. But in any case they have no problem in the very belief in Hashem, blessed be He. Only, as the Malbim says, they did not receive the true religion and the commandments of the Divine. He keeps the religion of Muhammad, not the religion of truth. Muhammad is vanity, it is nonsense, he received nothing and all that he transmits is falsehood. Only that the Rambam, we already spoke in the past when we studied the Kuzari, says that these religions are a progress toward the recognition of the Divine. Because if you think about what was before, they worshiped idolatry. They worshiped stars and constellations. So the moment there are Christians, this is already progress. Because he already recognizes that there is a single, abstract God. The Muslims came later, this is further progress. They already recognize that there is a single, abstract God who has no connection to impure acts and so on and all the vain matters of Christianity that speak of a reality in which the Holy One, blessed be He, as it were, has a shared governance with the son and the holy spirit and so on. So it comes out then that Islam is already progress in terms of faith. And so they will draw more abundantly from the source of living waters, and with them the waters of knowledge will already be "mei motnayim." And "mei motnayim" is already higher.
And the fourth part, says the Malbim, is the nation that received the Torah of Hashem and His statutes and His commandments, this is Am Yisrael, they will comprehend the great comprehensions and with them it will be a flowing stream, a source of wisdom, "mei sachu," that these waters will rise from knowledge in their souls in great abundance. Now there is here a wondrous thing. Because if we consider who did he place lowest? The idol worshipers, they are the "mei ofsayim." And who is placed highest? This is Am Yisrael, this is "mei sachu." Now the wonder is that the "mei ofsayim," from where did they come out? From the Holy of Holies. That is to say, who is closest to the place of holiness? It is the "mei ofsayim." Who? The idol worshipers? For earlier you told me that these people would reach a scant comprehension of God, the water would be of the "ofsayim." And we, Am Yisrael, who are at the highest level, which is "mei sachu," we are cubits away, many hundreds of cubits, outside the Temple. Ostensibly in this part it no longer fits. We would understand better that the high waters would be near the Holy of Holies and the low ones would be distant from the Sanctuary.
This matter too the Malbim explains and says that this thing comes to teach that the more distant a person is, the greater his aspiration toward the Sanctuary and his desire to reach the comprehension of the truth. And this thing is also familiar to us from reality, that we see that a person who returned to observance yesterday, he is exceedingly distant, exceedingly distant. And if you examine him it may be that in terms of the fulfillment of the commandments he too today begins to fulfill in something negligible. But with all this you will see that his aspiration and his desire are fierce. Precisely because of his distance. And in contrast, one who was born religious, you often see that as much as he was born close, you see him distant in terms of aspirations. He has no great aspirations. And this is what he says here will be. Here precisely those who will be, as we said, idol worshipers and they will be distant from the comprehension of the Divine, they are of the aspect of "mei ofsayim," with all this they will press harder to diligently apply themselves to the tent and will pursue to know Hashem. As it is written, "Come, let us go up to Hashem, and He will teach us of His ways," and this the nations will say in the future to come. They will have a very, very great aspiration to know the Divine, they will have a fierce and mighty desire to draw near to Hashem, blessed be He. And those who did not learn, they will be more inside than those who already learned and knew Hashem, who are already going outside. And there is another expression of this in the matter of Am Yisrael, who are already the water outside, "mei sachu," this comes to express that there is here also the spreading of the wellsprings outward. They will spread the wellsprings outward until these waters will already come and spread to the whole land, which comes to express that the idea of the knowledge of the Divine, of wisdom, that Am Yisrael, who are really outwardly the people of Hashem, the sanctified ones, will already spread the faith to the entire world, to roam the earth and teach throughout the land.
Chazal say that this spring begins by going out from the Holy of Holies. Rabbi Pinchas said, we read this earlier, the spring that goes out from the Holy of Holies, at first is like the horns of locusts; when it reaches the entrance of the Heichal it becomes like the warp thread; when it reaches the entrance of the Ulam it becomes like the woof thread; when it reaches the entrance of the Courtyard it becomes like the mouth of a small flask, as we read above. The Malbim explains this too and says that this water, as we explained, is the waters of knowledge, we are not speaking here only of physical water but there is also here an expression of the waters of knowledge. Their beginning is from the intellect emanated from the world of Atzilut, this is the Holy of Holies. This is the highest place. This is the aspect of the world of Atzilut. And there it is like the horns of locusts. What does this tell you? From the great light of the world of Atzilut of the Holy of Holies you comprehend the horns of locusts. Something exceedingly thin, like a fine needle. When this reaches the entrance of the Heichal, it is already about comprehensions that go out further from the world of Atzilut, they reach the world of Beriah, which is the world of the Throne. And then comprehension and grasp are already more possible, and this is already like the warp thread. The warp thread is something already more tangible. When it reaches the entrance of the Ulam they already descend further and reach the world of Yetzirah, this is the world of the angels, and then we already see that it is more comprehended. And afterward when it descends and comes to the world of the Ofanim, which is already the world of Asiyah, of which the Ofanim and the spheres speak, they are the heavenly bodies, to the physical world, there it is already like a flask, which means water that trickles, since there we comprehend much more in the matters of the heavens and in the order of the nature of the lower world, we have much more comprehension than in the higher matters of the Divine. So when it comes to the more external part, here it is already like a flask, it is trickling water, water that can already be comprehended in a much, much greater quantity, because the lower matters of the aspect of Asiyah we have much more comprehension of than the matters of the higher aspects of Yetzirah, of Beriah, of Atzilut, where the comprehensions are entirely, completely much fainter.
And in this he actually offers a homiletic reading and gives us a homily that tells us, behold, see that this matter of measurement, each time he measured a thousand cubits. Why in fact does he mention to us the matter of a thousand cubits? The Malbim says this is not for nothing, since this thing comes to hint, "elef" (thousand) is from the word "iluf" (training/teaching). The term "elef" is from the word "iluf." "Iluf," we today perhaps associate it with animals, but we must know that in the language of the Torah and Chazal, "I will teach you understanding (a'alefcha binah)," "I will teach you wisdom." In Arabic "alifat," "alafat," it is a term of teaching. It speaks of learning. The Holy One, blessed be He, is called "Alufo shel olam," not that He has levels. "Alufo shel olam" means He teaches the world, He who teaches Torah to His people Israel. This is the meaning of "aluf." This is the concept of "alufi umeyuda'i" (my close friend and acquaintance). It means one who teaches me knowledge. So then he tells you, see, each "elef" here comes to teach about "iluf," which comes to teach about learning. So there is the "iluf" of the first thousand, which comes to speak, as we said, about the aspect of Atzilut, and afterward about Beriah, about Yetzirah, about Asiyah, each is a thousand. "Elef" means the teachings from which and there one can comprehend.
And at the beginning he says this is "mei ofsayim," because there the comprehension is nothing and naught, because a person who is a clod of matter does not comprehend in these high and spiritual matters. The comprehension goes and expands more in the matters of the world of the Throne, as we said, up to the knees, which is already a higher comprehension. In the world of the angels it is up to the loins. And in the last learning, what we can learn is the last thousand of comprehension, learning, "elef" being a term of learning, this is in the world of the spheres and matter, where we see that the water rose because the investigators multiplied and knowledge grew mighty in astronomy and in nature and in all kinds of sciences, since here in the world of Asiyah there are comprehensions much higher than there are in all the other worlds, as we explained and as we clarified according to the idea of the spreading of the water.